involve

verb

1. (transitive)To have (something) as a component or a related part; to comprise, to include.

   “My job involves forecasting economic trends.”

   “But there remaineth yet another vſe of POESY PARABOLICAL, […] That is vvhen the Secrets and Miſteries of Religion, Pollicy, or Philoſophy, are inuolued in Fables or Parables. Of this in diuine Poeſie, vvee ſee the vſe is authoriſed.”

   “Some have vvritten Myſtically, as Paracelſus, […] involving therein the ſecret of their Elixir, and enigmatically expreſſing the nature of their great vvorke.”

   “The Opinion of the pure and intellectual Nature of Numbers in Abſtract, has made 'em in eſteem vvith thoſe Philoſophers, […] And hath heretofore ſo far infected the Minds of ſome, that they have dreamt of mighty Myſteries involved in Numbers, and attempted the Explication of Natural Things by them.”

   “Most persons express themselves as surprised at its quantity; not having known before to what an extent good art had been accumulated in England: and it will, therefore, I should think, be held a worthy subject of consideration, what are the political interests involved in such accumulation.”

2. (specifically, transitive)To have (something) as a component or a related part; to comprise, to include.

   “Many conceive there is ſomevvhat amiſſe, and that as vve uſually ſay, they are unbleſt untill they put on their girdle: vvherein (although moſt knovv not vvhat they ſay) there are involved unknovvne conſiderations; for by a girdle or cincture are ſymbolically implied Truth, Reſolution and Readineſſe unto Action, […]”

   “[A]t the making of this Covenant, God ſpake onely to Abraham; and therefore contracted not vvith any of his family, or ſeed, othervviſe then as their vvills (vvhich make the eſſence of all Covenants) vvere before the Contract involved in the vvill of Abraham; vvho vvas ſuppoſed to have had a lavvfull povver, to make them perform all that he covenanted for them.”

   “All that I can ſay is this, That vve are not infallible either in judging of the antiquity of a Book, or of the ſenſe of it; by vvhich I mean (as any man of ſenſe and ingenuity vvould eaſily perceive I do) that vve cannot demonſtrate theſe things ſo, as to ſhevv that the contrary neceſſarily involves a contradiction; but yet that vve may have a firm aſſurance concerning theſe matters, ſo as not to make the leaſt doubt of them.”

3. (transitive)To cause or engage (someone or something) to become connected or implicated, or to participate, in some activity or situation.

   “By involving herself in her local community, Mary met lots of people and also helped make it a nicer place to live.”

   “How can we involve the audience more during the show?”

   “I don’t want to involve him in my personal affairs.”

   “We are always trying to involve new technology in our products.”

   “If thou ſuch fierce Deſtruction doſt diſpence, / To puniſh ſome unpardon'd old Offence, / On me let all thy fiery Darts be ſpent, / Let not my Crime involve the innocent.”

4. (also, reflexive, specifically, transitive)To cause or engage (someone or something) to become connected or implicated, or to participate, in some activity or situation.
5. (figuratively, transitive)To entangle, intertwine, or mingle (something with one or more other things, or several things together); especially, to entangle (someone or something) in a confusing or troublesome situation.

   “to involve a person in debt or misery”

   “Also that reuerende studie [of law] is inuolued in so barbarouse a langage, that it is nat only voyde of all eloquence, but also beynge seperate from the exercise of our lawe onely, it serueth to no commoditie or necessary purpose, no man understandyng it but they whiche haue studyed the lawes.”

   “[O]ld Œdipus / Would be amazd, and take it in foule snufs / That such Cymerian darknes should involve / A quaint conceit that he could not resolve.”

   “So that involved vvith more perplexity novv than ever, he vvas at his vvits end, and once reſolved to burn his Book and return to trading: […]”

   “[F]or whence, / But from the Author of all ill [Satan] could Spring / So deep a malice, to confound the race / Of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell / To mingle and involve, done all to ſpite / The great Creatour?”

6. (archaic, transitive)To cover or envelop (something) completely; to hide, to surround.

   “to involve in darkness or obscurity”

   “[T]he vviſe mans eyes keepe vvatch in his head vvhereas the foole roundeth about in darkneſſe: but vvithall I learned that the ſame mortalitie inuolueth them both.”

   “[T]he ſhatter'd ſide / Of thundring Æetna, whoſe combuſtible / And fewel'd entrails thence conceiving Fire, / Sublim'd with Mineral fury, aid the Winds, / And leave a ſinged bottom all involv'd / With ſtench and ſmoak: […]”

   “It is true, that it is vvith the connatural Principles inſcribed in our Minds as it is vvith our Faculties, they lye more torpid, and inactive, and inevident, unleſs they are avvakened and exerciſed, like a ſpark involved in aſhes; […]”

7. (archaic, transitive)To form (something) into a coil or spiral, or into folds; to entwine, to fold up, to roll, to wind round.

   “VVe muſt be ſtiffe and ſteddie in reſolue. / Let's thus our hands, our hearts, our armes inuolue.”

   “[S]ome of Serpent kinde / Wondrous in length and corpulence involv'd / Thir Snakie foulds, and added wings.”

   “The forms which peopled this terrific trance / I well remember—like a choir of devils, / Around me they involved a giddy dance; / Legions seemed gathering from the misty levels / Of Ocean, to supply those ceaseless revels, / Foul, ceaseless shadows:— […]”

8. (archaic, obsolete, transitive)To make (something) intricate; to complicate.

   “And as wililye as thoſe ſhrewes that beguyle hym haue holpe hym to inuolue and intryke the matter: I ſhall vſe ſo playn and open a way therin, that euery man ſhall well ſee the trouth.”

   “[H]e ſeemed rather vvilling to diſpatch the buſines vvith judgement, then to involue it vvith nice diſtinctions.”

   “The distribution and configuration of the land, together with the influence of the winds, greatly involve the problem of the tides, and render it one of the most difficult in the whole range of physics.”

   “The sewerage and drainage of the town of Gibraltar, being upon a very defective system, greatly involve the sanitary welfare of the troops, many of the barrack buildings being immediately within the influences of such evil.”

   “Before leaving this branch of our subject, it may be well to point out that a young man who possesses the power of explaining himself clearly, without stammering and stumbling, and involving his sentences, always has a great advantage on his side.”

9. (archaic, obsolete, transitive)To multiply (a number) by itself a given number of times; to raise to any assigned power.

   “a quantity involved to the third or fourth power”

   “Subtract the power from the given quantity, and divide the first term of the remainder, by the first term of the root involved to the next inferiour power, and multiplied by the index of the given power; the quotient will be the next term of the root.”